IRELAND v ANDORRA:IRELAND ALWAYS looked in control against the worst team in Group B without ever impressing. That is not a good enough return at home against Andorra, especially considering the squad have been together all week.
It’s the start of a long, hard season so maybe the players were content with 3-1. They certainly lacked the required tempo to inflict the five or six goals that other opponents will rack up against these part-timers.
The past few days have yielded the essential six points but against the weakest opposition they can expect to face. Still, the minimum requirement has been achieved with next month’s two games providing the real test of the progress under Giovanni Trapattoni.
Slovakia’s 1-0 victory in Moscow yesterday was an early indication that they will be our main rivals to win the group. Our Russian trip is not for 12 months when matters may well have already been settled.
Considering the opposition and Ireland’s rigid defensive system, it quickly became a night for the wingers to shine. Aiden McGeady flew up and down the left side, constantly threatening something special all on his own, but I felt he needed to let off a snappier pass with so many defenders being drawn to him. Sure enough, when the game had become a little flat at 2-1, 10 minutes into the second half, Aiden wanders inside and threads a neat ball into Robbie Keane’s path.
It was an important and confidence-boosting strike for Keane and a well-worked goal. The team needed that.
Earlier on McGeady set up the corner that saw Kevin Kilbane head in the first goal after a well-measured cross by Liam Lawrence. Moments later Lawrence spun another one in from the right that Kevin Doyle almost planted in the net. His quality of ball was excellent all night.
With 15 minutes on the clock and it seemed like a job well done and we were just waiting for the avalanche to boost the goal difference.
Doyle’s goal was a quality strike, but any top goalkeeper would have got a glove to it, not that any more can be asked of this man. He gets battered around by centre backs every weekend and keeps showing as a target man. It was no different last night.
When Leontios Trattou interrupted the warm-ups we suspected there would be 21 out field players last night. The fussy Cypriot referee still managed to let the Andorran captain Ildefons Lima away with a thunderous charge into Doyle’s back despite flashing yellow cards for dissent and innocuous hand balls.
Doyle would have made it 4-1 if he hadn’t been fouled in the box. No penalty. Let’s just hope this is the only poor refereeing display throughout the campaign. We feared for a second card for Glenn Whelan (especially with Russia up next) until Darron Gibson got his opportunity on the hour.
The opening 45 minutes seemed like the textbook way to handle a minnow nation, that is until the wonder strike from Christian Martinez brought everyone back down to earth. There was a hint that Marc Pujol was offside for the initial ball in and this may have distracted Richard Dunne.
The consistent problem, however, was the poor use of ball the further up the pitch Ireland went with it – possibly not helped by Ireland not being used to controlling possession for such long periods of time.
I felt it should have been a night for the full backs to overlap and create space, especially with McGeady and Lawrence moving inside to good effect. Kilbane went past McGeady once in the first half; John O’Shea never sped past Lawrence at pace.
Stephen Kelly, having replaced O’Shea, finally sprinted towards the touchline on 79 minutes. Maybe Kelly was just eager to seize this rare opportunity. He certainly enhanced the attacking options.
It would make sense they stayed and minded the house if there was a midfielder with the passing range to change the play in an instant but that was not evident. Those type of natural playmakers are either on the bench or not in the squad.
So while the full backs stayed put, Whelan pushed on from midfield, more so than Paul Green anyway, as they sought to force the issue on a slick surface.
Trapattoni is clearly going to persevere with the Derby County midfielder. He clearly sees something in Green to pick him ahead of Gibson. Whelan already knows his role but Green has been adjusting to the conservative style (this week has been invaluable for him, I’d imagine).
One thing Green has going for him is he has the legs, much like the really good holding players at international level, like Claude Makelele. Last night his brief was simple; he just sat and minded the back four.
We could talk all night about the Green/Whelan partnership but we won’t really know how good they are until Russia come to Dublin next month followed by the trip to Slovakia.
Whether Keith Andrews comes back in or not at least Green has the Irish system etched into his brain for when he is required again, and he will be because Trapattoni does tend to remain loyal to players he has developed. Maybe at 27, the manager likes his maturity. Late bloomers tend to have the best attitude.
The players knew they were far superior to this lot so it just became a matter of proving it. Doyle’s run of form continued, McGeady excelled before fading, probably due to match fitness and the defence never looked under pressure as their goal cannot be blamed on anyone as it was a perfect strike.
Still, we may regret conceding it and certainly similar mediocre performances will not suffice on the road ahead.
